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Archaea, close relatives of eukaryotes, were previously thought to universally rely on circular intermediates for the maturation of their ribosomal RNA. A study published in the journal *RNA* reveals the coexistence of maturation pathways with and without these intermediates, as well as a previously unrecognized structural plasticity of the bulge-helix-bulge motifs, which are essential for this circularization. These results demonstrate a new level of...

Recently, scientists from BIOC, in collaboration with Institut Curie and the Mechanobiology Institute in Singapore, revealed a novel mechanism of cell coordination during collective cell migration. This process is critical for development as well as for healing injuries in adults; it is also involved in pathological processes such as cancer cell dissemination. During collective migration, layers of cells gradually polarize in the direction of...

The Structural Biology of the Cell Laboratory (BIOC*), in collaboration with Ifremer in Brest, the CBI in Toulouse, and Institut Pasteur, has identified a molecule in archaea capable of putting the ribosome, a cellular machinery essential to cells, into a state of dormancy. This “hibernation factor” binds to the ribosome when external conditions are unfavorable. Ribosomes play a key role: they assemble proteins from genetic information in all living...